10 September: Tuesday Refocus

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One should hallow all that one does in one's natural life. One eats in holiness, tastes the taste of food in holiness, and the table becomes an altar. One works in holiness, and raises up the sparks which hide themselves in all tools. One walks in holiness across the fields, and the soft songs of all herbs, which they voice to God, enter into the song of our soul. - Martin Buber

For the follower of Jesus, there is no sacred/secular dividing line. Because all of life is an act of worship offered in view of the mercies of God (Romans 12:1). Eating, drinking, working, and resting give evidence to whom we belong (1 Corinthians 10:31, Psalm 127:2).  

“And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” Colossians 1:17

Father, may this day, and every day be lived before Your face. In view of your mercies, and consecrated to You. In Christ’s name and the Spirit’s power, amen.

Amen,

AB

Formative Reading

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Corporate readings help us increase active participation in the corporate gathering. Just like every aspect of our gathering - and all of life - corporate readings are formative. But too few churches devote time to the corporate reading of Scripture, corporate confession, corporate prayer, and reciting the creeds as we gather the people of God.

For those of us planning services, we are responsible for giving our people language for who God is, what He has done, and how He has called us to live. Corporate readings are one of the most neglected resources at our disposal.

Corporate readings unite us in one voice. In the same way, a pledge, or vows unite us to one another in their shared language and shared direction - when we read aloud together we embody our collective unity as the people of God. But to an even greater degree, when we read Scripture together, and when we recite the creeds, or we use the ancient prayers we join the people of God from all places and time through history.

If corporate reading is something you would consider in your gathering, start with Scripture: read it aloud together, read it responsively, read it slowly, read it repeatedly. My wife first suggested to me that when leading a corporate reading, I begin not by inviting the congregation to read along but by listening silently while I first read the words. That way when I repeat the reading, inviting them to read aloud with me, they have already heard the words and felt the pacing. This small adjustment allows people to not exert all of their mental energy while keeping up with their reading and trying to process simultaneously. They can settle into the words as we pray, read, and confess together.

3 September: Tuesday Refocus

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“One of the great neglected duties of the Christian life is self-examination, and maybe self-examination is neglected because it is so humiliating an exercise.” - William Barclay

Nothing surprises God. There is no corner of creation or my heart that is not already seen and known all the way through. So when we pray with the psalmist, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23-24),” we pray to the One who has already “…searched me and known me! (Psalm 139:1).”

We pray asking not that God would learn something new in searching us, but that we would learn something new because God already knows “When I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether (Psalm 139:2-4).”

Father, thank You that You know us and that in Your kindness the Spirit convicts us of sin, and comforts us in our distress. Thank You for raising up the humble. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

Corporate Readings

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There is no part of the corporate gathering that is passive. When someone is praying, we pray with them. When someone is preaching we lean in actively listening. When we sing we sing out for the sake of the Lord and our brothers and sisters - even when we don’t like the songs, even when we don’t know the songs. We show up ready to serve, love, and give - not simply prepared to receive or take.

Corporate readings are an easy way to increase active participation in the corporate gathering. Simply reading a passage of Scripture aloud together, reading something as a call and response, reciting a prayer, or reading from the Book of Common Prayer, the Worship Sourcebook, The Valley of Vision, or simply reading lyrics to a hymn.

Because we have been made in the image of a God who speaks, the ability to speak is a divine gift. God spoke the universe into existence and sustains it by the word of His power. Scripture says that there is the power of life and death in the tongue. Our words matter and are significant in the formation of our minds, hearts, and souls - as well as in the formation of the family of God.

27 August: Tuesday Refocus

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“This way is first humility, second humility, third humility, and however often you should ask me I would say the same, not because there are not other precepts to be explained, but, if humility does not precede and accompany and follow every good work we do, and if it is not set before us to look upon, and beside us to lean upon, and behind us to fence us in, pride will wrest from our hand any good deed we do while we are in the very act of taking pleasure in it.” - Augustine

If pride comes before destruction, humility comes before exaltation (Proverbs 16:18, James 4:10). In pride we most closely resemble our first parents - and the accuser of our souls. In humility, we live as reflections of the one, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:6-11

Jesus, might we be humble as you are humble. In your name, amen.

Amen,

AB

Creating Culture Carriers

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Culture matters. Every church has a culture, every team has a culture, and as leaders, we bear a responsibility to shift the culture toward one that resembles the Kingdom of God and the person of Christ more than it resembles our cities, churches, and leaders. But this work of culture is not - and cannot be - a solo endeavor. One of the ways I think of leaders on my team is carriers of the culture. What is true of us now, and where we are prayerfully aiming the direction of our lives, our team, and ultimately our church will be shaped by the carriers of our culture on our team.

How to identify culture carriers on your team:

Do you have culture carriers on your team? You will be able to recognize them because their voices, presence, and influence have an outsized impact on the team. On a worship team, the temptation might be to consider those with a microphone (choosing songs, leading the liturgy, running a rehearsal, etc) as the main carriers of culture - and this might be true. However, I have often found that the most consistent carriers of culture are not always the most obvious leaders. Who shows up early? Who is encouraging the team? Who is investing in relationship? Who is giving more of themselves (in time and talent) than is expected of the rest of your volunteers? Here are your culture carriers.

How to encourage culture carriers on your team:

  • Invite them in. Bring them into your thought process, and your planning.

  • Ask them to do intentionally what they are already doing naturally.

  • Entrust them with greater responsibility in leading the team, the congregation, and planning.

  • Ask them to weigh in on decisions about songs, events, services, and the overall direction of your team.

  • Make space for them to grow as leaders

  • Make investments in their leadership on your team as well as their growth as people.

Ultimately, this is the discipleship. And discipleship is the long game. This work will be slow, but it is the kind of self-giving we are called towards as disciples of Christ, as we make disciples.

20 August: Tuesday Refocus

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“The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for his love.” - Corrie Ten Boom

I am convinced that we do not pray enough - that I do not pray enough. And maybe that is in large part because we view prayer as a passive activity where we run through a laundry list of requests to God hoping that he will hear, a finger-crossed hope that he will be conformed to our will. But what if prayer looked more like wrestling with God (Genesis 32:22-32), laying our case (Job 23:4), and placing all of our longings before the Lord (Psalm 38:9)? What if prayer looked more like turning our lives and faces toward the one who knows a word before it is on our tongue (Psalm 139:4), and entrusting ourselves to the One who knows our needs (Matthew 6:32)? What if prayer looked more like calling to mind - and therefore having hope that the love and mercies of the Lord are steadfast and never ceasing, new every morning (Lamentations 3:21-23)?

If that is how we viewed prayer it is likely we would pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Father, thank you that we can come to you - the One who knows us and delights in us. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

Shadowing Presence

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I have a visceral reaction to the word experience being connected to the Sunday gathering (as I’ve noted previously).

Experience borders the hospitality industry: how do we ensure a positive experience for our customers? Should we seek to be hospitable? Yes, obviously, Scripture affirms it (Romans 12:13, 1 Corinthians 14:26-40, Colossians 4:5, Leviticus 19:33-34, Hebrews 13:1-2)! But if our aim is a positive, uplifting experience we leave no room for lament and sorrow.

We leave no room for helping people see that sometimes it is in the shadow of the Almighty where we experience His presence and nearness. We experience the presence and nearness of God in His shadow as much as in His shining face (Psalm 91:1, Revelation 1:16).

“For song can never bring the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit does invariably bring song.” - A.W. Tozer

13 August: Tuesday Refocus

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“That means an encounter with God that involved not only the affection of the heart but also the convictions of the mind. We are not called to choose between a Christian life based on truth and doctrine or a life filled with spiritual power and experience. They go together. I was not being called to leave behind my theology and launch out to look for ‘something more,’ for experience. Rather, I was meant to ask the Holy Spirit to help me experience my theology.” - Tim Keller

Our souls are embodied. Therefore true, saving faith cannot be simply an ascent to knowledge - even the demons believe (James 2:19). Faith must shape us, form us, stir us, and change us from the inside out. But faith is not an unbroken string of ‘mountain top’ experiences. True saving faith is still true in the mundane and quiet moments of our lives where following God feels more like obedience and less like delight. 

One of the ways we can consistently embody our faith and experience our theology is through gathering with the people of God. Singing to one another, hearing God’s Word preached and proclaimed, serving one another, taking the bread and the cup, praying with and for one another, forgiving as we have been forgiven, giving away our money, talent, time - and our very lives.

Spirit, would you help us experience our theology. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

11 August: Liturgy + Set List

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  • ALL I HAVE IS CHRIST

    Call to Worship: Psalm 16:1-6

    The boundary lines of our lives have fallen in pleasant places by God for our good, our joy, and His glory. And although God exists outside of time and space, uncreated, and without boundary or limit, He has chosen in and through Christ to step into time and space, take on our flesh and bone, and become our sin so that we might become His righteousness, to rescue us from the power of Satan, sin and death. We are going to introduce a new song to you this morning that gives us language for celebrating who Jesus is and what He has done. We’ll teach you the chorus first…

  • HOLD HIM HIGH

  • BETTER IS ONE DAY/FACEDOWN

    Sermon: 1 Timothy 6:2-10

    The Psalmist says ‘The sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply… but at the right hand of God, pleasures forevermore.’ We must run to God, who satisfies the desires of every living thing. Let’s use these next songs as prayers of confession, and prayers of petition - asking God to shape us…

  • I SHALL NOT WANT

  • BE THOU MY VISION

    Benediction

Space for Sorrow

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Are we making space, and giving language for the varied experiences in our corporate gathering? Does our liturgy allow space for grief, lament, and naming our sorrows and longings before the Lord (Psalm 38:9)?

As author Clint Watkins says, “Biblical worship includes sorrow.”

If corporate worship is about the spiritual formation of the people of God whether our specific room is filled with people currently experiencing sorrow (we all one day will) we have a responsibility to help do the burden-bearing work of weeping with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15). When we make space for sorrow, lament, and grief we are giving people language, helping them now and later.

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